Japanese wine

Over the last couple of years, Marks & Spencer have been expanding their wine range to include lesser known countries and regions. In 2012, the supermarket introduced wines from Meditteranean countries which have a long wine-making tradition but have never entered the mainstream, such as Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Lebanon, and Israel. A while back I tasted the Golden Valley Grasevina, a crisp, refreshing white from Croatia retailing at just £8.99. The wine wasn't that exciting, but Marks & Spencer have done well to find a good quality Croatian wine for that price - Croatian wines that I've previously tasted have arguably been too expensive for what they are.

In February, the range was expanded even further to include a wine from Japan, the Sol Lucet Koshu 2013. This really is an adventurous choice, as I imagine the only "wine" consumers associate with Japan is sake. It also retails for £12.99, above that £10 threshold customers are reluctant to spend. It's refreshing to see the supermaket allow their buyer, Emma Dawson MW, the opportunity to use her expertise to introduce customers to unfamiliar wines.

from wineandvinesearch.com

Japan actually has a long history of grape growing, dating back to the eighth century. However, the first reference to wine consumption is in the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese Jesuit St Francis Xavier brought wine to the country. Wine continued to be imported until all Christian practices, including drinking wine, were banned in the seventeenth century. Modern winemaking began in 1875 in Yamanashi, near Tokyo, where half of Japan's 175 wineries are now based. Conditions in Japan make growing vines difficult: Yamanashi has a monsoonal climate, making humidity and excess water a problem. The areas within Yamanashi, particularly Katsunuma, that have most favourable conditions are at a high elevation, where there is better drainage, a refreshing breeze, wider daily temperature variation, and better ripening conditions.

The most planted grape in Japan is Koshu, which is mostly grown in Katsunuma. It's a grape only found in Japan, though no one knows how it came to be grown there (legend has it that it was introduced from China by Buddhist monks, but there's no evidence for that). Its importance comes in large part from its resistance to rot in the humid conditions, but also because it's used as a table grape - table grapes have always been more commercially significant than wine. The grape produces wine that is colourless, light, and delicate; good brandy has also been made by a Yamanashi winery, Kizan.

As for the M&S wine itself, it was certainly different from other whites I've tasted and hard to categorise. It was light and refreshing, with sharp citrus fruits giving the wine an edge and finish that made the wine stand out. The supermarket's site describes it as having "pure and fresh flavours of Japanese citrus fruits such as kabosu and yuzu"; I've never heard of these fruits so it's no surprise I found the wine difficult to pin down. The obvious food accompaniment is sushi, but I think its freshness and balanced fruit flavours make it a great summer wine, on its own or with any salad or seafood.